2. POLYMERS
Rubber’s elastic property
comes from its chemical
makeup. Rubber is a
polymer, a chain of
repeating units called
monomers (Freudenrich 1).
3. MONOMERS
The monomer in rubber is
called isoprene and has two
carbon-carbon double
bonds (1).
4. EFFECTS OF DRYING
The fluid which comes from latex trees contains large numbers
of isoprene molecules and as the latex dries, the isoprene
molecules crowd together (1). The isoprene molecules then
attack carbon-carbon double bonds of neighboring molecules
causing the double bonds to break (1). The electrons then
rearrange to form a bond between the two isoprene molecules
(1).
5. POLYISOPRENE MOLECULES
The process continues until long strands of many isoprene
molecules are linked like a chain (Freudenrich 1). These strands
are called polyisoprene polymer with each polyisoprene molecule
containing thousands of isoprene monomers (1).
6. CONTINUED EFFECTS OF DRYING
As the drying process continues electrostatic bonds form between
the polyisoprene strands (1). The electrostatic attraction between
strands holds the rubber fibers together and gives them their
“stretchy” property (1).
7. TEMPERATURE ON RUBBER
Temperature affects the electrostatic interactions between the
polyisoprene strands in latex rubber (1). Hot temperatures reduce
the interactions and cause the rubber to have a stickier texture (1).
Colder temperatures increase the interactions and cause the rubber
to become brittle (1).
